Throughout Star Wars media, we are led to believe that Jedi aren’t interested in being warriors and would rather just be peacekeepers.
However, as the Clone Wars kicked off in Geonosis during Episode II, they had very little choice but to start behaving like soldiers.
During this battle, Mace Windu sliced the head off notorious bounty hunter, Jango Fett, and he did it right in front of his son, Boba. These aren’t the actions that you would associate with a compassionate Jedi Master, so why did he do it?
Here’s what you need to know.
Why did Mace Windu kill Jango Fett?
There are a few reasons why Mace Windu killed Jango Fett, but the main reason was because Windu had recently learned that Jango was a Bounty Hunter who was trying to assassinate Senator Amidala. This assassination attempt was seen as an attack on the Republic and democracy that the Jedi served to uphold.
Prior to the battle on Geonosis, Obi-Wan Kenobi had discovered the identity of Jango Fett after a trip to Kamino. He reported back to the Jedi Council that he believed Jango to be the assassin that the Jedi were looking for and that he was being used as a host for the creation of a clone army for the Republic.
Obi-Wan was sometimes called the Negotiator, and you can find out more here.
This confused and scared both Yoda and Mace Windu greatly as they had no idea that a grand army for the Republic was being built which led them to believe their ability to use the Force was dwindling.
It is therefore understandable that perhaps Mace wasn’t quite acting his usual self due to the imbalance in the Force that this chain of events had caused.
There are some other explanations for Mace Windu killing Jango Fett, including:
- He got caught up in the heat of battle.
- It was payback for the Jedi that Jango had killed.
- There was no way of imprisoning him and he was too dangerous to be left alive.
Mace Windu got caught up in the heat of battle
The Battle of Geonosis was a huge moment in the Skywalker Saga. It marked the start of the Clone Wars and the series of events that would result in the fall of the Republic and the Rise of the first Galactic Empire.
The battle itself was also incredibly intense with battle droids, clone troopers and even Jedi perishing at regular intervals.
While Mace Windu was one of the most powerful Jedi of all, he wasn’t invincible and being caught up in this type of destruction is bound to make you protect yourself at all costs.
Prior to chopping Fett’s head off, Mace had seen Jango destroy a Reek, the monster that was initially tasked with executing Anakin Skywalker. Jango had displayed his perfect aim, hitting the Reek directly in the eye with one shot. This was all on the back of being trampled by the beast, making the feat even more impressive.
Considering Mace Windu saw all of this, he probably thought that Jango was a legitimate threat to his life, especially when he started firing shots in his direction.
Therefore, it could be argued that Mace was simply acting in self-defence. After all, Jango was armed so it wasn’t like he’d broken the Jedi code by killing his opponent.
It was payback for the Jedi that Jango had killed
In Legends, Jango Fett had several Jedi kills under his belt. In one story, Jango kills six of Count Dooku’s apprentices with his bare hands after they kill his Mandalorian Lieutenant. This is also the reason (in Legends) for Dooku choosing Jango as the host for the clone army as they would possess Jedi killing potential.
In Canon, we know that Jango killed at least one Jedi during the Battle of Geonosis. To protect Count Dooku, Jango set a barrage of ammunition at Jedi Master Coleman Trebor, which caught the Jedi off guard and sent him plummeting to his death.
Perhaps Mace saw this and decided to take revenge on behalf of his fellow Jedi Master. Sure, revenge isn’t something we usually associate with Jedi but Windu was a known user of Vapad.
This is a fighting technique that incorporates both dark and light side powers so he may have tapped into the dark side a little too much during the battle on Geonosis which caused him to act emotionally instead of rationally like a Jedi should.
There was no way of imprisoning Jango
When Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered that Jango Fett was the bounty hunter that had tried to assassinate Senator Amidala on Coruscant, Mace Windu’s instant reaction was to tell Kenobi to imprison Jango Fett and to bring him back for questioning.
Yoda and Mace both thought that by questioning Jango Fett they could perhaps secure more key information in regards to who was really trying to kill Senator Amidala and why.
We know that the chain of command above Jango was Count Dooku and Palpatine/Sidious. If they had managed to successfully imprison Jango, the Jedi could have stopped Sidious before it was too late.
With this information in mind, it seems crazy that Windu would decide to behead Jango Fett when he had been adamant just days earlier about capturing him and questioning him!
However, in the midst of a battle on that scale, there was likely no way of successfully capturing Jango alive, leaving Mace with two options – let him go and see him potentially kill more Jedi and Senators or kill him and find another way to get to the bottom of the larger issue at hand.
Ultimately, Mace went with option two because as a Jedi it was his job to protect the lives of others and, in the short-term at least, this was the best way to do that.
Final thoughts
All in all, Mace Windu was an incredibly powerfully, but flawed, Jedi Master. On this occasion though, he was probably right to execute Jango Fett due to all of the reasons we have stated above.
You can find out why Mace Windu didn’t wait for Yoda before confronting Palpatine here.
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